Chambersburg man has hearing for allegedly for assaulting 13-year-old girl

Alleged victim was 13; accused remains jailed

CHAMBERSBURG &GT;&GT; A 20-year-old Chambersburg man will have a preliminary hearing on Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl when he was 19. Tyler Michael Cover is charged with felony involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a person less than 16, statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors.

According to charging documents, Cover allegedly assaulted the teen beginning in the summer of 2012 until April of this year. The accuser told police that the assaults happened at least once or twice a month, for a total of 30 to 40 assaults.

The teen also told Pennsylvania State Police that starting when she was 13, Cover allegedly started by grabbing at her and putting his hand up her shirt, according to court documents. Cover eventually allegedly performed sexual acts on her, and forced her to perform sexual acts on him.

According to court documents, Cover told her that if she told anyone, he would just say it was her fault.

The teen told police that Cover was never violent or used a weapon, but she felt like she could not tell anyone. She told police that she told Cover all the time that she didn't want his sexual advances.

Police interviewed an unidentified witness who said she found out about the alleged assaults when she read the teen's text messages in mid-May, according to court documents. The witness confronted the accuser about the messages, but the girl would not talk about it at first, only approaching the witness later in the day to discus it. The witness called Cover and confronted him, but he allegedly denied the assaults and thought the witness was lying.

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Police interviewed Cover on May 27, and he stated that he had never touched the accuser, according to court documents. He told police that he never messed with the girl, and that the girl had told someone at school. Cover felt that because of this, two unidentified people confronted him about the issue. He denied the assaults to the teen's parents.

When police told Cover that the girl was accusing him of rape, he said that she was making it up.

Cover alleged to police that someone else had sex with her, but that she told another person that Cover had assaulted her, according to court documents. Cover said because of that, an unidentified person wanted to beat up Cover.

Further into the interviews, Cover allegedly admitted to the sexual assaults, and said that he never threatened the girl or forced her into it, according to court documents. He also stated that he never threatened her not to tell anyone, and that he thought she was 16.

Cover reiterated his confession to police, but could not pinpoint how many times the assaults had occurred, according to court documents. He repeatedly said he never forced the girl to have sex with him.